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Hackneyed Endorsements

The Seattle Medium, which purports to be the paper of Seattle's "African-American" (a term never used by the Party of Commons; see this link on "Ancestry and Politics") community, has never once invited me to a boardroom for an interview, or even called me on the telephone, during my eight years in politics in Washington, and yet they pronounce endorsements of candidates for various races without so much as a one sentence explanation for their choices.  When I ran for King County Council in 2009, they chose Republican Reagan Dunn instead of me and another candidate, but in this year's endorsements for state attorney general they said, in so many words, that Dunn showed no interest in the community that they mostly address (ditto for Dunn's main rival according to the Medium). 

Now, in another of their endorsements this year, they are endorsing Brad Owen for Lt. Governor (they can't even spell his name correctly) without an iota of a reason why.  Brad Owen is a "Blue Dog" Democrat who would have little in common with addressing issues important to the Medium's primary readership, such as jobs in Seattle and college education costs.  Owen was even sued by Lisa Brown, Majority Leader of the State Senate, and a true Democrat, for Owen's hostility to progressive and constitutional ideas.

These are not the only small and big paper endorsers of candidates, of course.  Any group of 3 or 4 can sit around in an office, drink coffee, and make a list of their favorite candidates on a piece of paper.  Just because they work for a "newspaper," and we use that word liberally in a lot of instances, doesn't give their opinion any more weight than any 3 or 4 citizens' opinions, generally.  The moral of this story: don't give your vote away to so-called newspaper editorialists who more often than not worship the status quo.

by Mark Greene, Candidate for Lieutenant Governor

[revised on 4/29/13]

Copyright 2009 - 2012, Party of Commons TM

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